April Thoughts from Pastor Erika

That’s just one of the fun facts you’ll discover perusing the timeline that Judee Kunze and Susan Chambers have been piecing together in the church office hallway. In celebration of our 150th anniversary as a faith community, and in an effort to help us know our own history, they’ve lined the wall with pictures, programs, and artifacts from FBC’s long and storied journey. There are some photos of people you’ll recognize, some names that also adorn schools or landmarks here in town, some titles of old sermons that will make you say, “What?!? We said that here, at FBC McMinnville?”

The timeline is a reminder: that the wider culture shapes what happens in church culture, that things within churches change and they stay the same, that some of what has been always lives on in what is.

Most of all, watching the timeline take shape has reminded me that the church endures, because it is deeply rooted in a story that endures.

We don’t see the same men’s ties or women’s hats on Sunday mornings these days, but we hear the same passion for justice, we feel the same warmth of community, we trust in the same faithfulness of God to guide us through our days.

The timeline is also a reminder that the church is more than its history – it is, always, a living, changing, growing, learning body. It asks us: what new justice, community, and faithfulness are we called to this day?

What better way to celebrate our past than to envision and work for a faithful future? -Erika